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View Full Version : Describe your worst and best days on the AT



Kerosene
12-29-2003, 13:26
It's a toss-up for my worst day between the day I probably came close to dying due to hypothermia and the day a long-distance trek was cut short because of injury. At least I could hike the day after experiencing the early stages of hypothermia, so I guess the injury gets the cake.

I was on the verges of what I later learned was hypothermia climbing Mt. Everett SOBO in southern Massachusetts on a week-long section hike in March 1975. The weather was cold just above freezing all day. It started to rain, which turned to a rain/snow mix, then sleet as we trudged up Jug End to the summit. The entire summit was covered in ice and fog, so we missed the lean-to just before the summit (which has since been torn down). We had to skid back down on our rumps and ended up tying a groundcloth across the face of the shelter to try to keep some heat in whle we shivered in our sleeping bags and forced down some soup.

The competition for my worst day was a 14-mile day in August 1976 when the remnant of a hurricane stalled over southern Vermont and deposited 14 inches of rain. I ended up pulling my Achilles tendon trying to yank my boot from some deep mud. That night I stayed at the dilapidated Swezey Shelter and had to walk 8 miles out to the road where my planned 300-mile journey ended after only 100 miles.


My best day may have occurred on my Roanoke area SOBO section hike on October 24, 2003. I started out from the Daleville Best Western at dawn with the temperature at 34-degrees, but the day turned out to be beautiful, nearing 60-degrees by afternoon with bluebird skies. I had lovely views off of Tinker Ridge and Tinker Cliffs, and the view off of McAfee Knob was inspiring and made the entire 9-day trip. The weather, combined with the views, trail and distance covered (17.6 miles) made for a great day.

davidlarson
12-29-2003, 17:36
[/LEFT]
It's a toss-up for my worst day between the day I probably came close to dying due to hypothermia and the day a long-distance trek was cut short because of injury. At least I could hike the day after experiencing the early stages of hypothermia, so I guess the injury gets the cake.

I was on the verges of what I later learned was hypothermia climbing Mt. Everett SOBO in southern Massachusetts on a week-long section hike in March 1975. The weather was cold just above freezing all day. It started to rain, which turned to a rain/snow mix, then sleet as we trudged up Jug End to the summit. The entire summit was covered in ice and fog, so we missed the lean-to just before the summit (which has since been torn down). We had to skid back down on our rumps and ended up tying a groundcloth across the face of the shelter to try to keep some heat in whle we shivered in our sleeping bags and forced down some soup.

The competition for my worst day was a 14-mile day in August 1976 when the remnant of a hurricane stalled over southern Vermont and deposited 14 inches of rain. I ended up pulling my Achilles tendon trying to yank my boot from some deep mud. That night I stayed at the dilapidated Swezey Shelter and had to walk 8 miles out to the road where my planned 300-mile journey ended after only 100 miles.


My best day may have occurred on my Roanoke area SOBO section hike on October 24, 2003. I started out from the Daleville Best Western at dawn with the temperature at 34-degrees, but the day turned out to be beautiful, nearing 60-degrees by afternoon with bluebird skies. I had lovely views off of Tinker Ridge and Tinker Cliffs, and the view off of McAfee Knob was inspiring and made the entire 9-day trip. The weather, combined with the views, trail and distance covered (17.6 miles) made for a great day.
[LEFT]

davidlarson
12-29-2003, 17:49
10 years ago I and 2 friends went to Costa Rica and hiked to the summit of its highest peak El Chirripo 12,500 ft. We began at a $1 a nite room at 4,000ft where we had spent the night and at 6am began hiking. The trail was tough and our first major obstacle was a bull in the trail as part of the trail was on private property. I went below to distract the bull while my two friends passed the bull. I then rapidly ran back to the path and the bull ignored us all. At about 6,000 ft it began to rain and get colder, at 8,000 ft it poured and the temperature was in the 40's. At 9,000 ft streams were coming down the path and we were becoming hypothermic. We reached the huts in the dark at 11,000 ft and they were horrible. There was no ventilation, the stoves did not work and the temperature was in the 30's. All night long smoke from attempted fires filled the room and rats ran across our sleeping bags. No sleep. We awoke to ice and sun and summited around noon.
The best was leaving Popo volcano 8 years ago after failing to climb it and never going back.

Moon Monster
12-30-2003, 00:14
Best: Franconia Ridge. We left North Woodstock rested and found the ridge on an absolutely gorgeous day full of puffy cumulous clouds and 40 mile visibility on July 1. It was my first time in the Whites and the first extended time above treeline (after Moosilauke). We took a leasurly lunch on Lafayette and an even more leasurly time on the foundation on Garfield where the whole Pemi caldera just blew me away in the late afternoon. Four of us were taken in by the Galehead crew and 'forced' to eat so much wonderful food, including pork with butter, gingerbread, and about 5 pounds of cheese each. The crew took us to a secret place to watch the sunset which is hidden from view from the AT. Us thru-hikers slept on the porch and is was the most comfortable sleeping weather I had in 140 days. I fell asleep stargazing (rare for a trip with ~100 days of overcast skies) and saw several earthgrazers before drifting off.

Worst: Woke up to a pack full of chewed up gear. A mouse had hit several things for nesting material, including my rain jacket. 60mph wind and needle like rain knocked me over as I went over Whitetop in VA. Lost my pack cover and faced a day full of testing my resolve in endless rain, which stole the Grayson Highland views and seemingly every view I had looked forward to seeing up to that day.

Patco
12-30-2003, 01:01
BEST: Doing 17 miles from Hurricane Campground to Partnership shelter with my dad during his thruhike. I had joined him in Damascus (Oh, thanks to Jenny for a great breakfast at the Lazy Fox B&B) and was hiking to Atkins in 2001. We were going to camp along the route and hit Marion the next day but my 73 yr old dad, "Brushy Sage" got a strong hankerin' for a motel bed and some KFC so off he led, setting a blistering pace. As we reached Partnership we were reunited with friends and then as we tried to hitch into Sugar Grove to get my truck, the shuttle driver that was storing my truck was the one who stopped and gave us a ride ... magically.

WORST: Another Whitetop story. Small clouds were forming as we sat and snacked at Buzzard Rock. By the time we were 1/2 way down to Elk Garden it was hailing and pouring and flashing and booming. We came up on Jake Brake and Low Gear. Jake had pulled a leg muscle and we had to help them down to the gap where they got a ride back to Damascus. Quite a bit of my gear got damp and as we tented just south of Deep Gap (almost up to Rogers) I was shivering uncontrollably. (I too had a mouse eat a hole in my tent while at Overmountain Shelter after walking in heavy rain near Roan Mtn, but that wasn't a bad day all in all. Got to see the longhorns up close)

screwysquirrel
01-04-2004, 01:24
Worst day was back in 1999 coming off the Priest and finding Lawdogs on Va 56 stopping and searching everybodies packs because some joker smoked a joint in the shelter the night before and there was lawdog who was weekending in the shelter.

Brushy Sage
01-04-2004, 11:20
My worst day was when I fell off a bridge into a ravine in the Nantahala Natl Forest. I was hiking north with full pack and came to a footbridge made of two logs. I thought to myself, that bridge looks slick. I took a step out onto it, and suddenly I was airborne and had no control and didn't know where I would land, or in what condition I would be. Then, with a whomph!!, I landed on my back down in the ravine, on top of my pack, a rhododendrun bush, and a hiking pole (the long dimension -- not the point!). Realizing I was still breathing, I took stock and found that other than a bleeding knee and a bent hiking pole, I was in good shape. I climbed out of the ravine, managed to straighten the pole somewhat, hiked on north and eventually bought shoes with better traction.

The best day was when I was hiking with PATCO and we came to the Grayson Highlands State Park area, and a group of school children from a Montessori school in Charlotte proceeded to interview me (old man with long beard). A young girl bashfully asked me if I would say how old I was. I told her 73. There was a gasp from the group, then a young boy asked, "Well, how old were you when you started?" We all laughed at that one, then I told him 72. I looked back at the kids and could see them for a long time as PATCO (my son) and I hiked on north.